Man With Nazi Past Seeks Dismissal Of Citizenship Case

A Schuylkill County man whose citizenship is in jeopardy for allegedly concealing his Nazi past, asked a federal judge to dismiss the case yesterday.

Nikolaus Schiffer, 72, of New Ringgold, is accused of misrepresenting his activities as a concentration camp guard for the SS during World War II in order to regain U.S. citizenship.

But attorney William Jones of Montgomery County said his client did not withhold information.

The government's case focuses on several answers Schiffer gave on a naturalization form in 1956. One question on the form asked: "What organizations, clubs or societies" he was a member of, either in the United States or in another country.

Schiffer initially wrote "none," which was crossed out. "German Army, 1943 to 1945," was written in, reportedly by a U.S. naturalization official who coached Schiffer in filling out the form.

He should have answered he was a member of the SS Totenkopfverbande (Death's Head Battalion), according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Votaw, who maintains Schiffer tried to mask his wartime activities in order to regain citizenship.

In yesterday's motion for dismissal before Judge Franklin S. Van Antwerpen in Easton, Jones said that question was, and remains, vague.

"The plaintiffs would have the court believe that this question solicits a detailed analysis of specific geographic and military activities and whereabouts for the defendant throughout World War II," Jones said. " ... The form does not indicate the specific nature of a response."

Jones also maintains the government had complete background files on Schiffer during the naturalization process.

Schiffer was an armed guard at several German concentration camps between 1943 until the end of the war in 1945, the government's complaint says. He served as a member of Adolf Hitler's elite SS unit at camps in Trawniki in German-occupied Poland, Majdanek, also in Poland, and Flossenburg, specifically at the Hersbruch subcamp in Germany.

Nazi guards at those camps participated in a program that included confinement, corporal punishment, torture, forced labor, medical experiments, and murder of thousands of prisoners, the complaint says.

Schiffer was born in Philadelphia in 1919, the son of Romanian immigrants who had been in America for several years. The family returned to Romania when Schiffer was 1-1/2 years old.

In Romania from 1933 to 1941, Schiffer apprenticed at first as a baker and then as a pastry chef. During that period, the defense maintains, Schiffer acted in accordance with his status as a U.S. citizen.

Schiffer has said that he joined the Romanian Army and had no intention of becoming part of the SS, but was forced to because he spoke German.

The government also is questioning Schiffer's response to another naturalization application question that "certified he was of good moral character and attached to the principles of the Constitution." Schiffer answered the question affirmatively.

Although the question might appear subjective, Votaw said it "constitutes a lack of good moral character" to have been a Nazi.

Many believe Schiffer's case is one of a kind because he was born in Philadelphia, making his first citizenship American.

Schiffer was arrested by U.S. Army personnel in May 1945, according to a U.S. Attorney's complaint, which did not report the outcome of the case. The U.S. State Department issued Schiffer a Loss of Nationality certificate in 1952.

But whether he was given adequate legal opportunities to challenge that action remains questionable, and that will have to be tackled by Van Antwerpen as well.

Schiffer regained his U.S. citizenship on Aug. 17, 1965, nine years after he had filled out the application now under dispute.

Van Antwerpen can agree with the defense and dismiss the case or he can quash the motion, sending the case to discovery and then to trial.

That ruling will not come for at least two or three months, the judge said yesterday.

The civil case against Schiffer was filed last year after an investigation into his past. Yesterday marked the first time the parties met before a judge.

Schiffer is not charged with war crimes, although his association with the SS will be brought out if the case goes to trial, Votaw said.

If successful in its case, the government then will attempt to deport Schiffer, Votaw said yesterday. That would require a separate hearing before naturalization officials.

Votaw was unable to comment on what country Schiffer would be deported to if the government wins its case.

At the end of the 30-minute hearing yesterday, Van Antwerpen gave the parties until Monday to submit additional briefs on the motion.

Schiffer did not attend the hearing. He has previously called the government's actions "a lot of garbage" and a "Nazi witch hunt."